This invention relates to a novel and improved attachment adaptable to the majority of vehicles to assist the users of said vehicles in turning on and off the different sets of lights of said vehicles in a logical and friendly way.
For the intelligence of the following description, an improved vehicle or vehicle would consistently refer to one of the general classes of automobiles characterized by a car, a truck, a van and a recreational vehicle, thereon this invention is attached. Also, when this invention is not yet attached thereon, such an automobile would be referred to consistently as a car. An automobile or auto would refer consistently to either such a vehicle or such a car in an indefinite way. Finally, a user of a vehicle or a car may be a man or a woman, but would consistently be referred to as a man.
This invention will show that the operation of an improved vehicle is logical thanks to the fact that all the conventional operations related to the different light switches thereof would be strictly preserved to operate the ways the users are familiar with. Those switches, including the main light switch, the dimmer switch and the flash switch (commercially called a flash-to-pass switch, described in details later on) widely adopted by the auto industries and available in each automobile to the user, would operate the ways they have been intended for in an improved vehicle, as if there were no modifications whatsoever for the need of the invention. The additional desirable benefits provided by an improved vehicle would automatically go into action at the fight time without the user having to take any extra steps to manipulate any extra switches that may confuse any user unfamiliar with the vehicle. An improved vehicle would be friendly because it would faithfully protect its user against the frequent annoyance of having to make sure that all the lights of his vehicle are off before leaving said vehicle unattended for a long time. Such frequent annoyance, when a car is not yet equipped with this invention, occurs for example when said car's user, after parking said car for the day and walking a good distance on the way to work, suddenly becomes anxious because of something like the sight of an automobile with the head lights on for instance, about whether any lights of his car are still on. More often than not, he grudgingly would have to turn around and walk back to a point from where the lights of his car can be surely verified to be off, before he could have the peace of mind for the day. The penalty for not doing such verification could be a heavy toll of anxiety on his mind throughout the whole day, or worse still, if said car's lights were left on when it was parked for the day, said user would come back to a car that usually would not start, as most of the energy of the battery of said car had been drained off to unusable conditions in a few hours before. Time-consuming assistance would be needed for said car to start then and to regenerate enough energy for the next starting again. Although many cars nowadays have a chime system that would sound when the driver-side door is opened and any external lights of the cars are still on, many users with busy mind tend to pay little attention to that chime at the very brief moment between the opening and the closing of the driver-side door. The user of an improved vehicle would have the best solution to that problem all the time, and can be sure that even if said vehicle's lights were still on the instant when said vehicle was parked for the day, this invention would automatically turn them off a relatively short moment later, e.g., a minute, after the vehicle's ignition was turned off. Moreover, a user can enjoy the classy experience of commanding his improved vehicle, in a simple and natural manner, to keep the head lights on for a short moment, say, one minute, for some helpfully needed lighting for that walk from the parking spot to the final destination, before said improved vehicle turns off all of its lights automatically for him.
Numerous inventions have been proposed to achieve the above-mentioned benefits for automobile users, but up until now, none has been considered good enough in terms of cost, logical operation and friendliness of use, to be installable universally on every car. Also, for the retrofitting market, such an invention should only require an easy, quick, safe, and fool-proof installation, so that no training on the part of the installer would be needed, except simple mechanical skills and the ability to read a brief installation guide. For the most desirable implementation for retrofitting on an automobile, such an invention should not require the cutting and splicing of any of the pre-installed wires of said automobile, and should not require the access to the contact areas of the light switch and the ignition switch of the automobile, as such cutting and splicing would be a so messy and error-prone procedure, and such access to the contact areas so difficult that not too many service people or users would like to perform.
The following examples are some of the inventions which tried to achieve the above-mentioned benefits for automobile users but failed altogether in the desirable criteria of familiarity preservation and ease of original-equipment-manufacturer installation or retrofitting installation.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,684,916, Skinner, discloses a type of head light delay turn off circuit that turns off the head lights after the ignition switch is turned off. It is clear from the teaching of this patent that this circuit may be undesirable or dangerous for many potential users as it would always turn off the head lights only after a time delay when the light switch is moved to the OFF position and the ignition key moved to the STOP mode. The users would have complete control of the turn off of the head lights only when the ignition key is in the RUN mode. This patent also requires the difficult access to the electrical terminals physically located on the light switch and the ignition switch.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,306,158, Ogle, discloses an automatic head light extinguishing switch apparatus with no delay, adapted to interfit with an existing automobile light switch member which comprises a switch means and a wiring harness forming a form of adapter for the light switch plug means. This adapter would do the assigned job correctly if there is enough room in the light switch area to accommodate it. The main features that discourage people from using this patent are that it is always difficult to access the light switch area for retrofitting, and the additional manually operable override switch that a user would have to actuate manually before any head lights can be turned on if the automobile engine is turned off.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,965,461, Mc Robert, Jr. et al. discloses an automatic light-extinguishing circuit for extinguishing, for example, the head lights of an automobile some interval of time after the ignition switch is opened. Again, the thorny problem of having to access the electrical terminals on the light switch and the ignition switch during the original installation or retrofitting installation is not addressed in this patent.
It is therefore the goal of the present invention to provide an improved attachment for automatic light switching for an automobile so versatile that it would be adaptable to virtually all kinds of automobiles made around the world and would provide the users of those automobiles with all the benefits without virtually any inconveniences in costs or operations.